by Dr. Mark Brewer :: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love Christ. For those whom God foreknew He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…” Romans 8:28 What’s with this whole “predestination” thing John Calvin and Presbyterians are infamous for? Is it like the old Scotsman who fell and broke his leg and said, “I”m glad that’s over”? Are all things predetermined and we’re just living out what cannot be changed? Or is everything dependent upon us and our choices? Calvin would have said “the wrong question always gets the wrong answer.” As Calvin came to Geneva, Switzerland and tried to change the city into a place where Christ was glorified, he wrestled with the great problem of life. Why do some people respond to the Gospel and have their hearts changed and others just blow off God no matter how many times they hear? Calvin’s conclusions in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (which his first draft he completed in his mid twenties!) was that we live a mystery. Not a mystery to be solved, but a mystery to be embraced. God is both totally sovereign and we are totally free. The Creator is not dependent upon His creation to get his next cue of what to do. Because God created and holds all of time and space in His hand (something the best of the new physics agrees with five hundred years after Calvin), He is the great “cause” of this cosmos. We don’t have to do great things for God in Los Angeles. We just need to participate in what He’s already doing.
For John Calvin this meant we did not have to “talk God into” saving us. He wanted to all along. It was His idea. The comfort is found when we fall and sin, we have the same grace-filled and loving God waiting for us to return and be healed as the very first time we heard of Jesus’ love. Calvin even pointed out that we could not come to Christ if it wasn’t for His grace. So when we share today with others about Christ remember the only way we can “fail” is to not share. The rest is up to them and this loving Omnipotent God. When we fall and stumble we can get back in line for this life-changing power called God’s forgiveness and take as many “servings” as we need. Don’t worry. God knows!
